First Date
by smellslikechidna
Summary: Cupid can't aim straight. [Saka, fluff, oneshot]


Haven't written a songfic in aaaages! And I shouldn't, cuz I have to do work and other fics, but…

Tis Fluffy! And not the three-headed dog variety (bad pun…)! Fluff fluff fluff!

^_^

Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to, I dunno, Yamaguchi Hiroshi? I think. It's Something Hiroshi. Bloke who owns Nintendo. Meh. "First Date" is by Blink 182 and is from the album "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket" and is SO Ash it's funny. Vive la Tom, Mark and Travis show!

Dedication? Um, lessee… Trish and Mia, and Riny, aaaaaand everybody I've annoyed by e-mail lately. Glomps for everyone!

**#F****ir****st****D****at****e#******

          **"I think I'm gonna be sick…"**

            "Yeah. That's a good idea. Throw up and kiss her with puke in your mouth."

            "I AM NOT KISSING ANYONE." Brock sighed and handed Ash a tie. Ash looked at it, revolted. "And I am NOT wearing this." He looked down at the borrowed tuxedo again. "Why do I need a tux when we're only going to the movies?"

          The door swung open as if on cue, Tracey stuck his head through with a camera, took a picture, then gave a thumbs-up to Brock. Ash stared. "Pictures." said Tracey calmly, slipping the wristband of the camera around his arm and swinging it casually. "Aw, c'mon, this is the ONLY time we'll ever get to see you in one. Such a Kodak moment." He grinned at Ash's face.

          "Couldn't you have waited until I got _married_? You're gonna make me late!" He charged out of the room, snatching a pair of jeans and a dark green shirt from the dresser, before he locked himself in the bathroom.

          Brock turned to look at Tracey. "We HAVE to copy this picture."

          "Blackmail?"

            "Of course."

            "I _CAN_ hear you out there." Ash yelled from the bathroom, before he yelped, and there was a ceramic cracking noise. "Owww…"

          Brock tutted maternally and rapped on the door. "Ash, _what_ did I tell you about putting your pants on _after_ you put your shoes on?"

          Tracey shook his head, amused. "You're more like his mother than his mother." he said.

_In the car, I just can't wait_

_To pick you up on our very first date_

_Is it cool if I hold your hand?_

_Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?___

          Okay, okay, so he was only… twenty minutes late. No big deal, he could always blame that on the traffic between Pallet Town and Cerulean City. Which was horrendous, thanks to the fact that a bunch of zoo animals had decided to stampede across the main motorway at the junction outside Viridian City. What he _couldn't_ explain was the large, pink bump on his forehead that dislodged his fringe. Or the fact that his nose was streaming from the flowers that all but conquered the back seat of his car forced on him by Brock. Well, maybe he _could_ explain that, but how was he going to explain the fact that the front of his best jeans were wet from the broken sink in his bathroom and not incontinence? There was no _way_ she'd accept that, and so Ash was trying to drive with all the heating fans blowing towards him, which didn't help his nose.

          Still, it was only a movie, right? It was just them going to see a film as best friends – best friends on a date, that was. _Why_ did he go and ask her? It was fine for them just being friends – nobody got hurt except when he opened his big mouth once too often. But noooo, Ash Ketchum has to go and open his big mouth _again_ and tell her he liked her. _Liked_ _her_ liked her. And now they were off to the movies. He felt like a teenager. Well, a younger teenager. As Brock kept reminding him, he wasn't twenty for another four months, and not twenty-one for another sixteen. His mind kept tracking back to the fact that this _was_ a _date_. His _first_ one, _ever_. What the hell was he supposed to do?! Should he hold her hand? Did he have to have a jacket and put it around her like in the movies? A horrified thought overtook him – he wasn't going to have to speak French to her, was he? The only French Ash knew was how to order a lot of alcohol. Hey, he was nineteen; he was legal. In the Orange Islands.

          Would he have to dance? They _were_ only going to the cinema, but maybe dates had special rules or something?

          'Course, he knew he was panicking. And hyperventilating. And seeing pretty blue and red colours in the rear-view mirror and - oh, please _no_…

**#**

          An extra ten minutes added to his delay, a pissed-off Officer Jenny and a ¥2000 fine for a driving offence (Speeding, running three red lights and scaring an Anaconda), Ash slammed his foot down _hard_ onto the accelerator, squawked when the inertia made his already-jumpy stomach be yanked a mile out of his stomach, and drove like Psyduck. No, he actually _did_ drive like Psyduck; that time last summer when poor Psyduck had gotten locked into Brock's brand-new jeep and sent it to a watery grave. Cursing every old lady in a Mini, Ash drove to Cerulean City at breakneck speed, hunched over the steering wheel and gripping maniacally at the gear-stick so hard, his knuckles turned white.

          Some of his stress eased when he saw the large, blue and white sign proclaiming 'Welcome to Cerulean City – A Mysterious Blue Aura Surrounds It'. Of course, that was when he realised that the directions to the Cerulean City Gym were by the phone.

          At home.

_Do you like my stupid hair?_

_Would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?_

_I'm just scared of what you think_

_You make me nervous so I really can't eat___

          Three passers-by, Team Rocket, a nun and a talking goat later, Ash eventually found the car park. Stumbling on a loose paving brick, he made his way towards the blue door, knocked three times and waited a nanosecond, before the door was opened.

          Daisy, Violet and Lily, piled on top of each other, stared at him. Ash felt nervous sweat stick to his neck. **"Um… hi… Daisy, Lily, um, Violet?"** he said, politely, before realising that he was still gripping psychotically onto the gear-stick with his left hand. Chuckling nervously, he swallowed, threw the lump of plastic into a nearby bush and smoothed down his shirt. **"Um, is Misty home?"** Giggling, they all moved out of the way of the door in a breeze of various perfumes that he assumed might have been nice once but they clashed horribly with each other and reminded Ash more of rotting fish than whatever they were originally. Once his senses had cleared of old sushi, he looked up, and narrowly avoided a frying pan aimed straight for his head, still containing something that could have been either a sausage or an omelette, and instantly he thought of Misty – nobody else could _ever_ cook as bad as that.

          And then he was glomped. **"Jerk!"** yelled Misty, though he could tell it was in good humour compared to the flying pan.** "I thought you'd stood me up!"** He shook his head.

          **"Nah. I just got held up. Traffic and such."** he replied easily, hoping not to go into too much detail about the fact that an elephant had tried to pick its' nose/trunk with his windscreen wipers.

          She pulled away, and checked him over; he did the same. She looked pretty. Pretty was an understatement, but let it never be said that Ash Ketchum was a romantic. She had her hair down around her shoulders, she was wearing a spaghetti-strap, tie-died dress that matched her eyes and – _glitter_?! Looking harder, he could she was _covered_ with it. Ewwww… glitter was girly stuff… Ick.

          **"Um, Ash?"** He looked at her face. **"Why is there a sweet pea flower in your hair?"** she asked, amused, before tugging it out from his crown. He smiled sheepishly.

          **"For you?"**

_Let's go!_

_Don't wait_

This night's almost over… 

_Honest_

_Let's make_

_This night last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever!_

          Ash settled into his seat awkwardly – balancing her coat, a bucket of popcorn and a freezing cold drink was something even Superman would have problems with, and – holy Ho-oh, that dress was _short_! Jeez… Once she was sitting down he would NOT let go of her coat. The glitter kept sparkling in the dim lights and all of a sudden he realised that they were in the back row. This just got better and better… was his heart pounding? Oh boy, oh boy, the lights were going out and there was only him, her and a few others scattered around the huge amphitheatre as the screen lit up, and the somewhat mundane conversation they'd been having out of nervousness died down.

**#**

          **This.**

**            Was.**

            Hell.

          The worst film ever since, well, _ever_, and he was stuck, with his legs crossed in all different positions because he was _dying_ to pee and she refused to let him go in case he missed the good parts. Which were non-existent. The film was dire, but she was practically sobbing because some bloke had just shot another bloke and now the shot one was having a totally clichéd dying conversation with the heroine.

          Aaaand… he was dead. And Misty was devastated. Seriously. She'd long been sobbing into her coat, and now she was practically buried in it. He looked at her incredulously, but… he hated to see a girl cry, so… oh _God_, how did they do this on TV? He awkwardly lifted his arm up from where his hands were firmly folded against his lap, aaaaaand… awkwardly manoeuvred it against the wall of the cinema and dropped it, almost casually, around her shoulders, and sighed with relief when she didn't whirl around with a mallet. Against his arm, she felt… good… 

_When you smile, I melt inside_

_I'm not worthy for a minute of your time_

_I really wish it was only me and you_

_I'm jealous of everybody in the room_

Please don't look at me with those eyes 

_Please don't hint that you're capable of lies_

_I dread to think of our very first kiss_

_I talked to Dad – I'm probably gonna miss!_

          Thank God for small mercies. She'd stopped crying. She still hadn't tried to move his arm, though. His heart was pounding now in his chest, and he could feel his cheeks burning like crazy with blush. He also felt really, _really_ awkward. He had his _arm_, around a _girl_, in a _public place. _What was wrong with him? But he felt comfortable like that, in a strange paradox. She was just there, and so was he, and for the first time that night, the jumping in his stomach subsided. Oh dear lord, she just put her head on his arm – his eyes were wider than dinner plates, and his heart rate and breathing definitely increased. Still, it was a date, this was supposed to happen, right. So what was he to do now? Should he put his head on hers, or… he'd have to hedge his bets on those teen-love shows he was stuck watching on a Saturday after cartoons. Ever so slightly, he bent his neck to her side, and – how _did_ people manage it? Her hair was tickly and smelt of something girly he couldn't recognise, but liked, and… she'd be a good pillow… he wrinkled his nose, wrapping his arm around her closer with something else controlling him instead of his mind, which was slightly preoccupied trying to recognise whatever it was she had on her hair that seemed to intoxicate him all of a sudden. It wasn't strawberries – that would be just _so_ cliché, it was sweet and spicy all at once.

          He felt her curling up slightly in her seat to him, and he relinquished his tight grip on the opposite armrest, almost unaware of what he was doing but knowing that he wanted to do it, because he liked her and he liked being this close, even if it _was_ girlish and romantic and basically sickening. He wrapped his arm around her, so that both were around her chest and waist, and breathed out, sighing, with a happy little smile on his face.

_Let's go!_

_Don't wait_

_This night's almost over…_

_Honest_

_Let's make_

_This night last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever!___

          Okay, okay, the film was over, and he was still hugging her. The lights were on, ushers were brushing up remaining popcorn and drinks cartons, everybody else had left – everybody except them, that is, but Ash didn't _want_ to move. The film was over – that was a Godsend, but he was _hugging_ her, and she was warm and soft and girly and she smelled of cherries and something else – cinnamon? She was really nice to hug. Good Myuu, what _was_ he thinking? This was a _girl_. This was a _date_. And even worse – this was _romance!_ Ewww! 

**#**

Outside was pitch-black, but the night was warm, and Cerulean Gym wasn't _that_ far away, so… Nothing like a nice walk through the park, right? Her idea, of course. But it made her happy, and he loved it when she smiled at him instead of scowled, so… 

The park was prettily lit with snake-lights in the trees, the fountain at the centre glowed with light, and it was fragrant with summer flowers that was agony on his nose, but made her happy, and she was linking her arm was his, walking very close to him, chatting animatedly about something Psyduck had done the other day involving jam, a rubber ring and a sausage. He smiled warmly, wrapping his arms around her waist instead of draping his arm over her shoulder. It seemed to fit in her curves, and she smiled, walking so close to him that it looked like they were one instead of two. Glitter that had somehow been transferred from her to him sparkled in the subtle park-lights; it sparkled better on her, he thought.

This wasn't that bad, this night, and Ash the Anti-romantic had suddenly slipped away peacefully. He, as pathetic as it sounded, didn't want to go back to Pallet Town on his own. Ash hated to admit it, but he found himself rapidly becoming a pathetic romantic.

_Let's go!_

_Don't wait_

_This night's almost over…_

_Honest_

Let's make 

_This night last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever_

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever!___

          They stopped on her doorstep, and faced each other awkwardly. She smiled, and he grinned habitually back. **"Um, I had a nice time tonight,"** she began; he nodded his acquiesce.

          **"Yeah, um, me too…"** he agreed, missing the feel of his arm around her waist as she faced him, her cheeks glowing in the streetlight. Now what? What was he supposed to do now at the end of a date? Kiss her? Or something else? Brock had told him to do the former, but Brock's idea of a first date had been a strip club in Saffron City. They kissed in movies, though, so…

          She looked awkwardly around all of a sudden, and he knew that it _was_ kissing… He noticed the front room curtain twitching, and he suddenly felt very shy. **"Um…"** he began, looking searchingly at her; she looked at him…

          And…

          Bingo.

          He'd never kissed a girl before, but he definitely wanted to do it again after this. Her lips were so soft against his rougher ones, and his eyes were closed, he was holding his breath- 

          She smiled at him cutely when they broke apart, **"Night, Ash"** she said sweetly, before opening the door, stepping inside and closing it softly behind her. He stared dumbly at nothing for a moment, before turning on his heel, retrieving his gear-stick from the flowerbeds and jerking his arm down in a fluid motion, hissing **"Yessss!"** before sauntering back to the car. 

          He could get used to this!

_Forever, and ever_

_Let's make this last forever!_

_Forever, and ever_

Let's make this last forever! 

          The door closed softly, and for a brief moment, Misty leaned against it, before she stepped in, and jerked her arm down. **"Yes!"**

[A/N]

Okay, it was crap, but it was doing my head in. Be nice, okay? I'm under stress – last coursework is almost finished – this was just to relieve stress and writer's block.

^_^

Review please!

~Kaz


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